


The Bounty Hunter's Children

by kciel



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Childhood Memories, Childhood Trauma, Kidnapping, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 06:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10380135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kciel/pseuds/kciel
Summary: Armitage Hux and Ben Solo meet as children onboard the ship of a bounty hunter after being kidnapped. While young Army panics over being sold into slavery, Ben waits it out and, in the meantime, earns respect from a new friend.





	

I couldn't see anything, yet I knew it was dark―at least in the part of the ship I was being held in. I was blindfolded with my hands bound behind my back and my feet bound together as they dangled off the side of the tall seat I was strapped in.

I knew what was happening, and I was well aware of the fate that awaited me once the ship finally reached whatever destination we were headed to―perhaps some sleazy place in the outer rim, where the worst of criminal activity took place, or so I heard. I had been warned about it my entire life by my father. In the middle of war, he'd often say that the family of the enemies became the true targets, and in this case, I suppose I was chosen as target practice. My capture was meant to lure my father out, but I knew it wouldn't. After all, to him, I had always been an object more so than family due to my illegitimacy.

And while I was still valuable to him in some sense, I knew the ransom was much more valuable to him than I. He couldn't afford to waste such precious currency over me―especially when credits were beginning to lose their worth. I simply wasn't worth an entire case of nova crystals. In fact, I probably wasn't even worth a lump of bantha fodder to my father most times.

There was no denying the fear that began to creep over me. I couldn't stop counting, as if I was counting down the seconds until my doom. I was just a child, but monsters showed no mercy towards children. It was completely possible that I would be sold into sex slavery just like my mother had been. Our red hair was rare and often fetishized in most parts of the galaxy; it was quite a common fate for redheads to be sold to various syndicates because of this. 

I was shaking, counting.

"74... 75..."

There was another boy on the ship too. He sounded much younger than me, yet he also seemed a lot calmer somehow. I couldn't see his face, but I was thankful for his presence. He was the only thing that kept me aware and alert.

"We will get out of here." He would say in a quiet voice from time to time, leaning over every now and again to bump his head against my shoulder―his way of comforting me without the use of his hands, as his were presumably bound together too, "Don't worry. I know there is someone coming for us. I can feel it. Have faith."

"Faith in what?"

Silence.

"The force, silly."

At the time, I hadn't a clue what he had been talking about. I had heard about the force before, but only in old legends from the past. My family had never believed in "the force." It seemed ridiculous to believe some invisible thing controlled our entire destinies. But for whatever reason, the idea of it being real for once comforted me, perhaps because the kid sounded so sure about it.

"My name is Ben." He said at some point.

"101... 102..."

"What is your name?"

He nudged me when I didn't respond.

"Ar-Armitage." I hated the way my voice sounded, as if it belonged to a scared little child―which it technically did.

"That's too long." Ben whined, "I'll just call you Army."

I heard him moving beside me, squirming a bit. I didn't know what he was doing, but I didn't want to question him about it either. He seemed to pick up on my nervousness and decided to talk some more, as if he knew I needed his voice to keep me level-headed. A world without sight was terrifying, but sound made it a bit more bearable. 

"How old are you?"

"12."

"Ew. You're old. I'm seven."

I heard some more shuffling before I felt fingertips brush the side of my head. I immediately jolted backwards, hitting my head against the wall. I shook my head violently, afraid to let whoever it was touch me, when Ben suddenly spoke up again.

"Calm down. It's just me."

"H-how did you get l-loose? Are you with h-h-him?"

"No... C'mere."

His tiny fingertips brushed the sides of my head again, feeling around in the darkness for the back of my head, where he found the little knot that kept the blindfold on. With a few tugs, he managed to loosen it before completely untying the knot. He let the little piece of cloth fall to the floor, next reaching around me to untie my hands.

I could barely see him in the darkness, partly due to my eyes' inability to focus after being blindsided for so long. What little I could see was the pallid color of his skin and the playful dark eyes that sparkled in the dark with a strange look of determination.

Once my hands were loose, I pulled my knees under my chin, reaching my hands down to my ankles to feel around for the knot that bound them together. It was then I realized we were not sitting in seats but rather on a little shelf as if we were some sort of merchandise, and Ben had been carefully balanced on his knees the entire time he had been undoing my restraints, a satisfied toothy grin on his face that looked a bit eerie in the darkness.

"What will we do when they come back here and see that we're loose?" I wondered aloud, my voice quiet as I tried to disguise how frightened I truly was of our scenario.

"We'll be okay." Ben said matter-of-factly, "My parents are coming to get me. I won't leave without you."

He sounded so sure that it began to worry me. Did he not realize how grave the situation was? Or had he been through a situation like this before? And if so, who exactly was he? Was he the son of some imperial officer? Surely not.

Suddenly, the ship lurched forward, almost sending the two of us off the shelf.

"What's happening?"

"Sounds like the ship's been boarded."

I pulled Ben close to me to make sure he didn't fall down. He was clearly an important person of some kind, and therefore, he needed to be protected. The details as to why didn't really matter to me. We were in the same boat, and yet he maintained a calm persona, and even helped me out of my bindings. In this moment, we were allies facing the same battle.

"My parents must be here." He said excitedly.

"Your parents?"

The sound of hurried footsteps soon invaded our ears along with the howls of many blasters shooting plasma bolts to and fro at enemy targets. Every now and then, a thud was heard as a body dropped to the floor, dead. As the commotion steadily grew less noisy, my anxiety began to take hold of me.

"Someone's coming." I whispered as we heard footsteps approaching the door to the cargo hold. 

A green lightsaber was suddenly plunged through the door, carving out a large hole as a giant hunk of metal clattered to the floor, the sides of it glowing with the intensity of the heat. A man dressed in all black stepped through the hole, followed by a woman in white. The sound of a blaster followed them as another man came in, shouting at them to hurry up as he bought them some time. 

Ben and I squinted at them through the light that peeked through the hole, and they soon discovered us sitting on the shelf. I noticed Ben perk up when he spotted the woman approaching us, figuring these might be the parents he spoke of before.

I recognized the woman, but I couldn't put a name to the face at that moment. She had brown hair wrapped into buns on either side of her head and warm dark eyes much like Ben's. Once she reached us, she outstretched her arms towards Ben, who eagerly jumped into them before looking back up at me and saying something to his mother that I couldn't quite make out over the sounds of the blasters.

"Army, come with me!" Ben shouted up at me once his mother set him down.

Without any other viable options to choose from, I quickly came to the conclusion that following Ben was my only true hope for survival in that moment. I let my legs dangle from the edge of the shelf for a few seconds before finally pushing myself down to the ground below, luckily landing on my feet. 

"Follow me!" Ben commanded before taking off in a full sprint, rushing past all the men with blasters as if he were invincible―which he apparently was, as he forced any attackers against the walls with just a wave of his tiny hands. 

It was absolute madness, but I had no choice but to do as he said and follow him if I wanted to make it off of the ship alive. I ran after him, my chest already heaving by the time we zipped through the small blockade of enemy men. By the time I made it around the corner, I realized Ben was no longer in front of me and backtracked a little ways―though discreetly so as not to be recaptured―and found that the bounty hunter who had kidnapped us had him by the throat.

I could see Ben clearly then. He was just a small boy dressed in expensive white fabrics, hovering many feet off the ground as his chubby, little, freckled face began to turn blue in the clutches of the criminal. 

I panicked, when I suddenly spotted a blaster in the hands of one of the fallen henchmen. For a moment, I debated on whether or not I should just wait for his family to rescue him as I had yet to handle a blaster in my lifetime, but when I peeked around the corner again, I realized they were too occupied with the last of the blockade to be able to rescue their son in time.

Blocking out the seed of doubt that had sprouted in my head, I grabbed the blaster from the floor and aimed it at the head of the bounty hunter. I felt my heart began to race rapidly in my chest, but I forced myself to calm down. I couldn't leave without Ben. 

"Have faith," I told myself.

Then, with a deep breath, I pulled the trigger, and time seemed to slow down. I could see it in slow motion―the way the bolt shot directly through his temple and the millisecond where I could clearly see the muscles and bones beneath his skin. He fell to the ground with a defeated thud, and Ben fell to the floor, coughing as the color slowly flooded back into his face.

I ran over to him, helping him stand.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded, pressing his hand against his throat, where bruises began to form.

I led him back around the corner where it was safe, his arm around my shoulders and my arm around his waist as I helped him wobble to the boarding dock, where we boarded his family's ship.

There, I met a Wookiee by the name of Chewbacca, who took Ben out of my arms and laid him down on one of the small beds onboard to rest. I stayed by his side while his injuries were treated, and when his family returned later, I was surprised to hear his father lecturing him about being kidnapped―it was apparently the third time it had happened. 

And unfortunately, for both of us, it wouldn't be the last time we were forced far, far away from home.

**Author's Note:**

> I just kinda thought of this after reading aftermath empire's end, so if it's crappy i'm sorry m8s. leave comments?


End file.
